Japan opposition LDP set to win solid election majority: polls

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) looks on course to win a surprisingly solid majority in a December 16 parliamentary election, media polls showed on Thursday, returning to power with a hawkish former premier at the helm.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who heads the LDP and would likely return to the top job if the party wins, is calling for radical monetary easing by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to beat persistent deflation and a strong yen.

He has also promised to stand tough against China over disputed isles in the East China Sea, loosen limits in Japan's 65-year-old pacifist constitution on the military, and rewrite what conservatives see as overly apologetic accounts of Japan's wartime past.

Previous opinion polls suggested the LDP would come first in the election for the lower house but might have to rely on its smaller ally, the New Komeito party, to take a majority.

The LDP is now predicted to win 257 to 306 seats in the 480-seat lower house, surveys by major newspapers including the Asahi, the Nikkei business daily and Kyodo news agency showed, although it is not likely to ditch the New Komeito as a partner.

Even if the LDP, with or without the New Komeito, has a majority in the lower house, it will not have one in the upper chamber, which can block legislation.

However, a recent legal change prevents the opposition from taking the budget hostage by refusing to pass a funding bill, as happened in recent years, so the LDP will find it easier to implement spending plans. And it can put pressure on the BOJ without enacting legislation.

But revising the pacifist constitution, however, would require a two-thirds majority in both houses as well as a public referendum.
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